“Treat you like family,” Boston’s only food co-op opens in Dorchester after a 12-year journey

DORCHESTER — Boston’s first and only food co-op is now open in Dorchester.

“When you walk in here, we’re going to treat you like family,” customer service representative Keisha O’Neal told WBZ-TV.

That’s the motto at the newly opened market on Bowdoin Street, a place that was 12 years in the making.

“Sheer excitement, a little bit of disbelief on my part,” said Jenny Silverman, who’s been working to make this a reality since 2011, when she looked around and realized there was a real lack of healthy groceries in Boston’s biggest neighborhood.

“In the 60s and the 70s, there was a lot of disinvestment and a lot of the supermarkets moved out of Dorchester,” she told WBZ. “The quality of the food was better in other places, so I would drive outside of Dorchester.”

And that began the dream of a supermarket, owned not by a corporation but by the community and the store’s workers. That’s how the Dorchester Food Co-op is constructed.

“I want to see us be able to come to a place where we don’t have to worry about healthy food and healthy eating,” said O’Neal, who lives in Dorchester. “The best of the best.”

This food co-op is now the only one in the city, with an emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, bulk items and healthy, locally-sourced products.

The co-op also includes a cafe with ready-to-eat meals and Equal Exchange coffee for just 99 cents a cup.

“It’s different when you spend your money in a place that’s going to help, really, really help the community,” said Greison Perez, the assistant general manager.

“It’s really a place that can bring together the wide variety of folks that live in Dorchester and work together to build the kind of store that we can be proud of,” said Silverman. 

The co-op, which now has 1,700 members, is open. Non-members can shop there. 

For more information, visit their website.

Liam Martin

Liam Martin joined WBZ-TV in June 2015 as an evening anchor and reporter.